Intruder Alert 4: Chances
by Frostmourne
Summary: Dilandau and Hitomi both have a new life. But another set of erratic twists are on the way. They are again thrown back for another ride but this time, the dice of chances are in their hands. To start the game once again would be up them. Updated!InfoInBio
1. The New Lives of Almost Everyone

**Author's Note: **It has been too long and before anything else, I want to express my heart-felt thanks to all those who gave reviews on the first three intruder alert seasons. **Thank you so much for the support.** I also want to thank those who are still with me. **Thank you for the patience.** I have had many problems including my losing the Escaflowne spirit for some time. But thankfully, an idea struck and I have made a board not only for us Escaflowne lovers but also for other people. I would like to invite you all there. Do visit it if you have time (the link is in my bio since it wouldn't let me put it here). **Thank you by the way to those who signed up there. I hope you like this opening chapter of season four and leave some comments about it. **By the way, someone asked about the song in the IA3. It's entitled 'Wherever You Will Go' by 'The Calling'. I really apologize for the format but I can't seem to get the spaces here right...

**Dedication (Season Four is here because of you peepz): **Diesty-chan, Anthius, JaminJellyBean, Feathers of Snow: Honeypot, Night of the Raven, Deaths Demon, Princess Neptune, My Silver Flame, megami04, angelized, mel88, Faraday, , Kat-Tastrophe, Izzy, dreamingofflyingaway, SabrinaYutsuki, Kagome, stephanie, Magicman/Smokegirl, Mad Meg Askevron, koneri, Harusame-chan, Dark-Dreams-69, MysticalDreamer32, prima, blue ice2, Blue Demon, steves-girl, 21321, dilly-sammas luver, bebopin'-dreamer, windsoffortune, the original esca chick, Sierra-Kurari Kaiba Fala, Fuzzie, Kendra, NoirRouge, Kya77, icetalobn, colombian chick, Rabsi-babsy, Mistress fire, execrable-angel, Harryrox2004

**Note: **

"Intruder Alert" – dialogue

'Intruder Alert' – thoughts

_Intruder Alert _- flashback

**Summary:** Dilandau Albatou and Hitomi Kanzaki both have a new life. After life had taken some crazy roller coaster turns back in high school, another set of erratic twists are on the way. Because when everything seems alright, they are again thrown back for another ride. Although this time, the dice of chances are in their hands. To throw the dice and start the game once again would be up to them.

**Standard Disclaimers Apply  
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I felt Hiko's hand squeeze my shoulder slightly and it made me look away from the setting sun in the beach's horizon. I turned to him and gave him a small smile that I knew didn't quite reach my eyes.  
  
"Do you want to eat?" He asked softly.  
  
I could feel the pain behind his voice, the pain he felt in behalf of me. It made me feel guilty. My problems were for me to deal with, not his. He already left the place he loved most just so that he could keep me company, just so he could offer me the comfort I know I desperately needed. But I didn't want to be selfish, at least not anymore. I have grown up, much more than I wanted to.  
  
"Hey," I said, trying to sound cheerful, although I can still distinctly hear the bitterness that laced my voice. "I'm capable of taking care of myself. It's not like I still have the tendency of poisoning myself with my own cooking. You should go out for a while. Buy some groceries for me, would you?"  
  
"Are you sure I can leave you?"  
  
Although he tried to sound like he was kidding, his efforts were dashed for he failed miserably. But I tried to ignore it, tried to pretend that I didn't notice his voice faltering in concern, in anguish.  
  
"I'll manage."  
  
He looked at me for a long time, gauging if indeed he could trust my words. I tried to look at him with the steady defiance I had been known for. He seemed unconvinced but he relented in the end, sparing me one last look before leaving.  
  
I turned back to the setting sun, smiling slightly to myself at how Hiko had grown up to be so outwardly caring. His girlfriend obviously had a reason to throw herself at Hiko, even when she could get anyone far more gorgeous.  
  
"I wish I had listened," I found myself saying.  
  
Sighing, I gave up fighting the pain I tried not to feel. It's been one week since I left Japan after visiting the people there, and still that deadened void inside me was making me want to cry over and over again. I don't want to cry anymore, at least not for a guy. I had my chance and I threw it all away, chasing all the wrong dreams for all the wrong reasons. And now, I have lost and I should move on, even when it seemed like the last thing I'd be truly capable of doing at this point.

Ten years. It's been that long, and in those years, I should've realized earlier what I was giving up. But I didn't. And now, I'll live the rest of my life wishing I could've done something, wishing that I hadn't been too afraid to take the chance – the risk...

Yes, if only. But now, it's too late to fix my mistake. It's too late...  
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**Intruder Alert 4: Chances**

**By: Frostmourne  
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**Chapter One: The New Lives of Almost Everyone**

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"Hitomi, your keys!" A female voice called out.

"Vhat?" The honey-brown haired woman asked through a sandwich-stuffed mouth as she stumbled slightly, trying to put her formal-looking black heeled boots on.

At the weird angle she was in, slightly leaning against the banister and with one leg raised from the ground having one boot being fitted into it forcefully, she almost fell off the stairs. Her heart rapidly increased its beating at the anticipated tumble down twelve flights of stairs, but a pair of strong arms encircled her small waist from behind and pulled her back.

Squeaking slightly, she remembered the half-masticated sandwich in her mouth as it choked her, reminding her to swallow it before she start thanking her hero. She began coughing as she forced the food down and one of the arms encircling her withdrew and started tapping her back whilst, a smooth male voice started laughing at her from behind. Withdrawing, she spun around and again nearly stumbled at her half-booted right foot.

The laughter increased and she glared at the tall man in front of her, crossing her arms under her well-formed breasts and tapping her bare left foot in an irate pace. "Not funny!"

The man continued to laugh and in her anger, she scowled and sat without grace on the beige carpet to put on her boots, all the while grumbling about how insufferable men were. When she was finished, she stood up and stalked down the stairs, the irritating laughter still following her to the front door.

"Wait."

She ignored him and continued to open the door and walk through it. But when she reached the deep red convertible parked just a few meters away, her scowl deepened and she turned around, her green eyes flashing in irritation. "Hand it over."

Chuckling slightly, he tilted his head slightly over his shoulder and called out. "Yukari, hurry it up there!"

"Coming!" A female voice bellowed from inside the house, followed by the slightly muffled sound of the stairs being treaded upon by someone running down it.

A few moments later a woman with long, slightly dark brown hair was before them, clothed in a pale floral dress and strappy sandals. She brought out a car key-holder from the purse she had and handed it to the irate honey-brown-haired woman. "Relax, Hitomi. We're early, I assure you. Besides, if we're late, it would still be fashionable. Who are we, Hitomi? We're one of those who people suck up on to get somewhere." Before the other woman could say something, she raised one dismissive hand and turned to the tall man with almost brown-blondish hair. "Good luck."

He nodded and bent down slightly to give Yukari a quick kiss on the lips. He turned to Hitomi and smiled teasingly. "Be sure to look flirty, okay?"

She rolled her eyes and entered the car followed by a smiling Yukari. A few more seconds and they were off on the road, driving towards New York City.

"Honestly, Yukari, you should drag Amano off to Las Vegas and get married. Hopefully, he'd begin to mind his own love life instead of minding mine," Hitomi grumbled, stepping a bit harder on the car's accelerator.

The other woman laughed and placed a hand on Hitomi's shoulder. "Amano is just worried about you. You've been dating on and off for the past years and still you have yet to have a permanent special someone."

"I'm busy. I'd be crazy to juggle a serious relationship with my business career. It's not like I'm having a picnic. I can't afford to be too preoccupied especially by men."

"Oh don't say that," Yukari reprimanded slightly. "You're twenty-seven years old. You have a famous restaurant and have five branches of it all over New York. People who are in give praise to your establishment and eat there every chance they get. You know how paparazzi are, always following famous people around." She shook her head slightly. "But as I was saying, with your booming business and right age, not to mention your looks, you're in the right position to snag yourself one man. We're friends with famous people, Hitomi. You can date one of them and I'm sure you wouldn't say that life isn't a picnic. Besides, we could always help you around with your career."

Hitomi snorted in an un-lady-like fashion. "I can't exactly ask Gades and Millerna to help now could I? They're in the medical field, how'd you expect them to cope? Besides, they're downright busy as it is. Gades is a neurology consultant in many big hospitals and even Millerna is one of the most trusted ophthalmology consultants in the entirety of United States. They have their love lives to handle, too. What with Gades dating Sarah and Millerna dating Dryden?"

"But Sarah can help. Despite the fact that she's dating Gades, she's still capable of helping. Anyway, Dryden Fassa is always away on business trips in Europe so Millerna can still be around."

"But Millerna deals with another matter than I do. Besides, Sarah's a corporate lawyer, not a chef and she's busy with so many multi-million law suits of some sort."

"Amano—"

"Majors in forensic science. What do you expect him to do? Dissect the chicken and tell the crew that it's been murdered by some poison before it was delivered to the kitchens?" Again, she gave a loud snort not fit for someone like her.

"Allen—"

"Is a criminal lawyer. Like Sarah, she's dealing with many law suits. He's now in Los Angeles, defending some murder-accused businessman's daughter."

Yukari frowned. "True. But you may have forgotten about me. I'm a business management graduate and I am—"

"Currently CEO of your father's company and it's stressing enough that you end up in a hospital more than a dozen times a year from pressure. Honestly, Yukari, you're just dipping way too much into my love life. I would've thought that after Millerna and I got you with Amano back in college, you'd quit pestering us about such things."

Yukari smiled, her eyes mischievous. "But I'm not pestering Millerna anymore, just you."

"Gee, that's great," Hitomi quipped back sarcastically. "I feel so important."

"Oh don't sound like I'm some bothersome mother hen. Why don't you just spend time with someone you knew from college? Maybe that would do the trick. I mean back then, we were always interrupted in our outings that we end up leaving Gades and Sarah together most of the time. Look at them now. They're engaged."

"If it worked for them, it doesn't mean it'll work for me." She gave a sigh of exasperation. "Could we just drop this today? I'm about to have an interview about my successful restaurant and I think I need to relax."

"Okay. I agree to drop it now. But after the interview, you're in for another batch of pestering."

Hitomi rolled her eyes, already dreading the end of her interview that have yet to begin.

---IA4---

She slumped on her swivel chair in her office, smiling mischievously at her long-time friend. "So, are you ready for tonight?"

Hitomi sat down in another leather chair across from Yukari's huge desk and ran her fingers through her long wavy hair, sighing. "May I pass this one up?"

Yukari's soft laughter echoed in the big office. "Hitomi, many writers in New York are going to be there. More exposure through socializing means more money for your restaurant, meaning you can soon stop being so insecure about your success. Your father's business is different from yours so don't be too harsh on yourself."

"I'm not being too harsh on myself. I'm just trying to make a life of my own, away from my family's big name."

"But you're focusing on it way too much just like I did in the past years. Now that I lightened up a bit, I don't end up much in the hospital." Yukari tapped her fingers slightly on the desk. "Why don't we go home earlier today and think up on our clothes. Can you imagine the last party you didn't go to? I was wearing the same set of rhinestone earrings as Cynthia Parker, that successful New York novel writer." Before she could comment on the topic, Yukari stood up from her seat and circled the desk, pulling Hitomi out of her seat and out of the office. "Too bad Amano can't usually join."

Just then, Yukari's secretary intercepted them, looking apologetic and at the same time urgent. "Miss Uchida, your father asked for you to go to Paris tomorrow night."

Yukari stopped and frowned. "What for?"

"The transaction on—"

"Isn't someone from the board handling that one? I thought Dave Sanders volunteered to seal that deal."

"Yes, but Mr. Sanders has just been rushed to the hospital because of a car accident just an hour ago and—"

"Car accident? How come it didn't reach me?" Yukari then gave an irate sigh and held up her hand to silence the secretary before she could answer. "Never mind. Just have Dave off for a week more after he gets off the hospital. I'll start packing. Just fax me every paper that I would need and be in the house tomorrow at lunch so we can go through briefing before I go in the evening."

Pulling Hitomi away towards the private elevator of the Uchidas, she mentally began going through things she would need and found that there would still be lots of papers she needs to go through.

"I can help you out," Hitomi offered, sounding a tad too hopefully for Yukari's liking.

"And let you skip the party?"

Hitomi's green eyes widened with plea and in the end, Yukari sighed in defeat. "Don't be too happy though. I'm not going to give you an easy time once I get back from the business trip."

---IA4---

_He glared at her from her perch near the windows as she looked at the rain falling outside. "Close the curtains."_

_She raised a brow at him and grinned. "You can't order me around."_

"_But this is my room!"_

"_I'm the one sitting by the window so I get to decide what to do with the curtains. Just go back to sleep already."_

_With a last glare, he turned on his bed and covered his head with another pillow, muffling out her laughter as she looked back again at the window and at the racing droplets of rain on the smooth plane of the glass._

"And I told him that I can still hold up in my job just fine. Uh, Hitomi?"

A hand on her arm and she turned away from the water droplets racing down the window beside them. She looked at the blonde woman across from her, the soft smile still on her lips. "I'm sorry. What was that?"

Blue eyes looked at her with a hint of understanding. "I said that maybe you should go back to Japan for a visit. It's been many years, Hitomi – far too long to be away."

Hitomi shook her head slightly, the smile becoming wistful. "Millerna, I talk to my parents every now and then through phone and Hiko sends me e-mails. Besides, I can't leave when everything is beginning to turn up here. There's so much work to be done and I don't think my parents would like it if I go to Japan only to be overrun by work when I come back here."

"I can look after things for you."

"Oh honestly, Millerna, you shouldn't be offering when you can't handle—"

"Now listen here," the blonde interrupted. "I may have chosen to be on the medical side of things but it does not mean I know nothing about running a business. My fiancé Dryden has rubbed off on me through the years and I assure you, I can breeze through management just fine."

An amused smile lightened up Hitomi's pretty face and she raised a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter. The blonde seemed to be torn between being insulted and joining her friend's amusement. But in the end, she settled for just asking a question. "What?"

"I just find it strange," began Hitomi. "That after you turned him down so many times, you still ended up engaged to him. I can remember the time when you purposely bumped hard on him and he ended up soaking in the pool at a party." At this she laughed. "Poor Dryden. He knew it and yet he told everyone he was just being too clumsy."

Millerna looked guilty as she smiled. "I think his being too nice got me into loving him. When my dad told me Dryden was leaving for Britain and that it was for good, I thought I was happy that finally I got rid of him. But after a couple of months, I kind of missed every little thing that he did."

"Every little thing he did," Hitomi repeated softly to herself, a feeling she did not want to analyze engulfing her.

She remembered the years before, after she had left Japan to resume her life in America, the place she considered her home. But she could admit now, that even when she was back to where she was born and where she had grown up in, with the people she moved around with as she grew up, America did not feel completely like the home it used to be. Of course there was a part of her that still treated the place as home, but then, there were some things missing.

The first few years, she knew it was her family's presence that even her friends and their parents could not replace. But lately, she knew it wasn't just her family she was missing.

Her friends were worried about her love life and she could not blame them. When she came back to America, she had been busy enough not to feel the full intensity of being away from her family and her new set of friends. She had become the president of the school's student council, her popularity doubling merely a week after her return. Her experiences in Japan made her a better person and she knew how it felt like to be treated like trash. Thus, when she came back for her final year in high school, she'd been equally nice, making more people respect her and look up to her. But when college years came...

"Uh, Hitomi?" Millerna asked with a raised brow, snapping her fingers in front of her friend's dazed expression.

Hitomi blinked and barely caught a sigh as she tried to focus on her friend. "What was that?"

"Uh, phone. Ringing? Hello?"

Her face contorted in a confused frown. "What?"

"Your phone is ringing dummy."

It took a few more seconds for Hitomi's brain to process what Millerna had said and finally focus on the unmistakable sound of her phone's simple ringing tune. Smiling sheepishly, she reached for her phone beside the mango juice she had forgotten since the meal started. "Hello?"

As Hitomi's face brightened up and she began talking with excitement on the phone, Millerna could not help but think of how Hitomi might have been if everything went differently starting from the time the Kanzaki family moved to Japan.

College years had been full of unexpected moves from them. Who would've thought that some of them would go to medical field or be a lawyer? Although Yukari's career choice was expected, her love life was another matter, like for many of them, especially Hitomi and Allen.

Back in high school, every one thought that Allen and Hitomi would marry after graduation before proceeding through their college years. But because of the things that happened in Japan, many opinions had been proven wrong, even Allen's and Hitomi's. A year through college, when Hitomi began to feel the melancholy of not having her family and new friends in Japan around her, she began to date Allen again. Soon, every one was back to thinking they would finally end up together. Then, things took some unexpected turns once more and she could still remember the end part of it quite distinctly, as she had been a silent witness to the final closing of Allen and Hitomi's fairy-tale-like romance.

She was looking for Hitomi at that time, as she had promised to keep the green-eyed young woman company before the dinner date with Allen set a few hours later. But as she walked down towards the kitchen of the condominium they shared, she could hear voices. Wondering what was going on, she walked silently towards the slightly ajar door and took a peek, surprised to find Allen already there and talking to Hitomi in a grave manner.

"_I love you, do you know that?" He asked softly, his voice full of sincerity._

_Hitomi nodded, her green eyes shinning for a moment before she closed them._

"_Do you remember the feeling back in high school? Every thing was great even when we have so many things to deal with." He laughed slightly. "And I remember the feeling of completeness every time we managed to fix all the problems we had in our relationship. I knew then, you're the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."_

_She smiled slightly, her eyes still closed as she took in a slightly shaky breath._

"_I still feel that way, Hitomi, and I guess I always will." Slowly, he closed the gap between them and pulled out his hand from his pocket, bringing out a small dark green velvet box. "I love you so much."_

"_I know." She opened her eyes and looked up at him, green eyes clashing with blue in a searching gaze. "And I love you, too. That's why we're here again, trying out being together even when we've been having so many problems as of late."_

_He gave her a gentle smile and he tenderly ran the fingers of his other hand down her cheek, watching her earnestly as she closed her eyes and as a wistful smile appeared on her lips. They stayed like that for some time until Allen spoke again. "Do you see me, Hitomi?"_

_Her eyes opened and she looked at him questioningly. "Of course."_

_He shook his head slightly. "That's not what I mean. Do you see **me**, Hitomi? When you close your eyes and let your heart see, am I the one standing in front of you, offering you a life-time commitment?" When she opened her mouth, he placed a finger on it. "Just tell me the truth and I will accept it, no matter what it is because it's your happiness that matters."_

_Suddenly, as if guilty of something, her green eyes watered. "Allen..."_

"_Don't lie for my sake. Please don't, Hitomi."_

_And they looked at each other for minutes that passed._

"_I want to hear it from you," he said at last. "I know what you're thinking, what you're feeling. But I want to hear it pass your lips, I want to hear your voice say it, I want to feel the emotion as you say it."_

"_I love you, Allen," she said, her tears finally falling._

_He just smiled sadly. "I will always feel for you and I know you want to stop pretending. When you hold my hand, it isn't mine. When you kiss me, it's not my lips. When you say you love me, someone else crosses you mind. I know you too much, Hitomi. What you say is not what you mean, is not what you truly feel. I... I love you and you love me. But it's not the love you want to feel for me, the love you used to feel for me. You gave your heart away to someone else."_

"_Allen..."_

"_I know you wanted to give it to me. But you know it's too late. And I understand. We can't choose the ones we love. You do love me, I know so in my heart. But you've fallen for him that even when I would offer you the world, he's the world to you."_

"_But what if I choose to make him pass through my fingers and hold on to you?" She asked, her voice breaking._

"_Then you're being unfair to the three of us. Don't you see? You may still love me but that love compares not to the love you feel for him. I love you so much that your happiness means a lot more than having you by my side. If you choose me, you'd be choosing me out of guilt and pity and that is not sufficient for a happy life-long commitment."_

_She gripped the hand holding the velvet box tightly as she struggled to choke back her tears. Her eyes flashed in anger and hurt. "You want me to turn you down?"_

"_No. I want you to listen to your heart."_

"_But I am listening to it," she insisted stubbornly. "And I'm choosing you."_

"_Are you really?" He placed a soft kiss on her lips and looked on as she closed her eyes and as more tears fell from her closed lids. Drawing back, he gently wiped the tears away and waited for her to open her eyes. When she did, he looked at her intensely until he placed a kiss on her cheeks. "I thought so. Just don't forget that I will always love you no matter what. Thank you." Then he drew further away from her, loosening her grasp on his hand and finally handing her the box. "Even when it won't be of use to you anymore, I want you to have it. It's for you and no one else. Throw it if you like." He offered her a pained smile and his blue eyes shone like brilliant sapphires submerged in crystal-clear water._

"_I don't understand you," she said, holding on to the box and looking at him with the same pained smile on her lips._

_He offered her his shoulder to cry on as he hugged her then. "You will if you stop pretending."_

"I'll see."

Millerna's thoughts came back to the present and she nearly smiled sadly as Hitomi chatted on with whoever was on the other line.

After that incident, Allen and Hitomi had both made it known that they weren't a couple anymore. They were still friends, close friends actually as if there never was any tearful and confusing break-up between them. They did not exactly give the others the details of the break-up, just merely said that they decided to move on. But she knew the truth as she had seen it, at least part of it. She never did know that Allen and Hitomi had had so many problems in their relationship then.

Whatever it was that Allen saw in Hitomi's eyes that time, she knew it had something to do with a certain someone in a far-off country. And now, many years later and seeing Hitomi's love life running to failure all the time, she knew the decision Allen made was right. They would have been trapped in a miserable marriage. But still, she could not venture to know what Allen must have felt the moment he realized that the day he was to propose was the right time to let go of his first true love.

"Of course not!" Hitomi exclaimed with laughter. "Really, I'll see what I can do about it. Okay. Bye" Ending the call, the green-eyed woman smiled. "Guess who it was."

Without a second thought, Millerna murmured, "Madam Fleur," who was Hitomi's favorite instructor back in Culinary School during college. Strange as it was that Allen broke up with Hitomi, the pieces they had ignored were actually beginning to form the big picture.

Before Hitomi went to Japan, she did not know how to cook to save her self. But after Japan, she was so into cooking that she took up Culinary Arts after high school, surprising many people around. She excelled far more than any normal student would and had been the favorite amongst the instructor-chefs in the culinary school. Then, when she graduated, she began planning on putting up her own restaurant. And now, years later, the dream restaurant was one of the famous ones not only in New York, but in the entire country. Anyone who was anyone knows of it.

"What did she say?"

Hitomi smiled widely. "She wants me to accompany her in one of her trips abroad. She's going to be a guest speaker in a culinary convention that would last for two weeks and she thinks that I'm good enough to be with her and also speak some things about things involving our career."

"That's great!" Millerna agreed whole-heartedly. "Where's this convention?"

"Oh, she didn't really tell me. It was almost as if she wanted to surprise me."

"So, are you going then?"

At this, the honey-brown-haired woman looked hesitant. "I'm not sure. My schedule can change anytime and besides, Yukari would be back in the country after a week's absence by the time Madam Fleur and I would go."

"Then you **should **go. I thought you detest Yukari's constant probing about attending parties to meet men. This would be a great way and not to mention safe-of-Yukari's-suspicions way of escaping parties you dread. You'd be pester-free for two weeks and you get to spend time with Madam Fleur. Also, consider it as your vacation."

"But what about—"

"I spend the past years with one sharp businessman like Dryden and I'm perfectly sure that I can handle managing things here. Don't worry. Yukari would be here. The two of us have business backgrounds, although mine is not from school."

Hitomi still looked uncertain about leaving the country for some place she didn't know.

"Oh do give yourself a break, Hitomi. It doesn't hurt to relax."

Millerna knew though that in Hitomi's case, what she said might not be true. Hitomi kept herself busy not only because she wanted to be successful on her own right but also because she wanted to run away from her life. But running away for so long would not help Hitomi in the end, and so, as a friend, she decided that it was her responsibility to force Hitomi to face her life before it got too overwhelming for her to handle.

"I'm not going to get you bankrupt. I'll look after your business properly and if you're not sure about leaving Yukari and me to handle this alone, I want to assure you that Dryden would be home a day after Yukari. I filed for a leave from my work and I'm sure Yukari's dad would give her the time off. Dryden called last night and told me he had managed to secure a month's worth of free time from his father's company. So there's really nothing to worry about."

"I don't want to pass my responsibilities to other people."

"You're not passing it on us. We're taking it from you for a while. Besides, you also have the responsibility of taking good care of yourself. You need a break and if I have to personally arrange for your papers and drag you to the airport on the specific date of departure just to get you to go easy on yourself for once, I'd do it. Consequences could go to the moon for all I care."

"Millerna..."

Blue eyes glinted almost with a promise of a 24/7 pestering and a promise of asking Yukari and the others to help on that around the clock pestering. Sighing in defeat, Hitomi nodded and rolled her eyes when Millerna beamed with achievement. She just hoped she was not going to regret giving in.

---IA4---

"Oh I'm so glad that you decided to give time to your old mentor."

Hitomi smiled warmly. "Oh Madam Fleur, don't be like that. I was just busy and you know how things are for me."

They were waiting for their plane in the waiting area of the airport. Upon their insistence, their companions had left them to talk while waiting for their flight. Merely three days after the call, Yukari had arrived. Four more days later and Hitomi was inside Dryden's car with Millerna heading for the airport to meet up with Madam Fleur, the widowed woman in her late forties that Hitomi respected a lot.

"Perhaps you should get married soon so things are not too hard on you." The old woman recommended with a very suggestive glint in her grey eyes. "Why you're already twenty-seven years old. You're not too young for such things. I remember I married when I was just twenty-two."

"I haven't found the one for me yet," Hitomi replied softly, remembering the day Allen and her broke up and the words that they exchanged.

"That's because you don't look for that someone."

"Oh believe me I did look. I've dated so many guys and none of them..." She sighed and absently ran her fingers through her mid-back length honey-brown hair.

"You want to ask me something? Don't hesitate, my dear."

A few seconds of silence and Hitomi looked steadily into her mentor's eyes. "What was it like?"

The older lady chuckled in a refined manner. "I assume you're asking about when I found my husband. Well, I did not even know I found the person for me until each day I spent with him after I realized I love him."

"Is it... is it possible to be in love with two different persons?"

"Perhaps yes, perhaps no. It all really depends on how you see things. But the point of the matter, my dear, is that even if you love two different persons, there must be one of them that your heart leans more to."

She gave a confused expression.

"Well you must love someone more for you to be able to know. You might ask me how to do that. I will frankly tell you I'm not sure how. But I am sure on the way to know if you love someone more."

"How?"

"Stop pretending."

Hitomi was struck with the familiarity of her mentor's words and the pain she had always felt for Allen resurfaced. Almost as if it were just yesterday that she had hurt him badly and gotten her self hurt in the process, a prickling sensation was upon her emerald eyes. She blinked back hurriedly, chastising herself for still hurting after almost seven years that had passed.

"Ah I see someone already told you that."

She just smiled, willing her eyes to look clear of any hurt and regret.

"You should listen to that someone."

"I did."

Madam Fleur gave her a smile in return, as if she was saying that she did not quite believe the answer given to her.

"Where are we going anyway? Millerna fixed my papers and gave you my passport without even telling me the destination. When we were handling matters, she even made me promise not to peek at what was on them."

At Madam Fleur's steady smile, Hitomi felt a knot in her stomach. She was sure Millerna and Madam Fleur knew of something that she didn't and it made her feel even more nervous for some reason. Then, as if her mind was stimulated by a caffeine-loaded beverage, things came into perspective.

Millerna's desire for her to finally face her life, Madam Fleur's smiles and her slight knowledge of what transpired in a certain year in high school...

"We're not heading for Japan, especially in Tokyo, are we?" She asked, her voice sounding as if she wanted to hear a negative reply.

But Madam Fleur's eyes twinkled and her smile widened. And it was then that Hitomi knew that she was in for another possibly messy dealing with the life she left behind, the life she ran away from when it had yet to be finished.

'I know I need closure. But not this way... not now. I'm not ready,' she thought with beginning apprehension.

As if to further her distress, their flight was called over the speakers and she was pulled away towards the plane that would bring her back to the place she left ten long years ago.


	2. Homecoming Queen

**Author's Note: Thank you for the warm welcome of IA4.** I never knew people still read this. I was so happy to read all the feedbacks and I'm so flattered by the comments. **To Catelina**, heh, the screaming part was a bit too funny. **To dreamingofflyingaway**, I hope this makes your month like the last one. And oh, glomping the author is not advisable as I may be carrying pathogens lol. **To Maree**, thanks for being honest and for wanting to review even when you couldn't before; don't worry, the long review was smile-creating and if you still want to e-mail me, just tell me so I'll leave my e-mail address in my bio or you could leave your e-mail address and I'll e-mail you. **To Kendra**, I'm not telling you who was on the intro; heh, evil me. Just stick around. **To Smokegirl**, no glomping; pathogens everywhere, lol. **To megami04**, anatomy and physio? Are you a medical student? I am already in my uniform but I'm still in my preparatory for medicine. **To Wink57CS**, I'm glad you actually gave this series a chance because of one one-shot. And Hitomi becoming a chef, yeah I know, lol. **To prima**, I think there'd be another one, the Final Cut or something. Ten years worth of lapse is a bit too long to fit into all this. **To Diesty-chan**, love you more for coming back to review even after you e-mailed me coz the computer wouldn't let you review. **To fallen-dark-angel**, angry for ending it? Lol, you mean you don't want this to end? Maybe I could continue the IA series after I'm through with Dil and Tomi. Maybe I could do the other's love story on the other IAs. **To MysticalDreamer32**, I hope this takes away some of your stress. **To Chan**, I don't write immediately because I also have a life. This isn't the only thing I do. I do go to university, too. About reviewing, do excuse me but as far as I can remember, you don't review at all except the last one and if you do, you certainly don't give reviews often. **To everyone, thank you for the feedback and thanks to those who read and reviewed my new one-shot, Rain. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Chapter Dedication: **execrable-angel, Catelina, Joshua Glass, SabrinaYutsuki, Anthius, Lady Snow Blood, dreamingofflyingaway, Dark-Dreams-69, Winnie, Maree, Feathers of Snow: Honeypot, Princess Neptune, Kendra, , Magicman/Smokegirl, CHI CHI, Faraday, Eio, megami04, mel88, Kya77, duh-hikki-zealot, nancy (harusame-chan), Cole Adams, blue ice2, Wink57CS, Blue Demon, Dilanda Albata, DillyChic16, prima, Diesty-chan, rabsi-babsy, fallen-dark-angel, MysticalDreamer32, bebopin-dreamer, Chan

**Note: **

"Intruder Alert" - dialogue

'Intruder Alert' - thoughts

_Intruder Alert _- flashback

**Summary:** Dilandau Albatou and Hitomi Kanzaki both have a new life. After life had taken some crazy roller coaster turns back in high school, another set of erratic twists are on the way. Because when everything seems alright, they are again thrown back for another ride. Although this time, the dice of chances are in their hands. To throw the dice and start the game once again would be up to them.

**Standard Disclaimers Apply**

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**Intruder Alert 4: Chances**

**By: Frostmourne**

**Chapter Two: Homecoming Queen**

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"You look nervous, my dear."

Madam Fleur's voice only added to the uneasiness that Hitomi was suffering from at that moment. The entirety of the long trip back to Japan had served its purpose of increasing her hesitation in coming back. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach that she could not understand and usually, what she could not explain made her extremely fearful.

Forcing a smile, she answered. "My parents are going to be too surprised to see me."

A graying eyebrow rose elegantly as if Madam Fleur knew that Hitomi was avoiding a certain topic on the verge of their small talk. "Have you not come to visit after college?"

Hitomi shook her head. "No."

"So how long has it been then?"

With a sigh, she murmured, "Ten years."

A knowing nod was Madam Fleur's reaction and it gave Hitomi the feeling that Millerna had been talking to the widowed woman behind her back. She almost groaned at what Millerna must have said to make Madam Fleur act as if she knew too much. Heavens, Millerna was going to get an earful after this scenario.

"There must be too much for you to do once we arrive then. Ten years is too long to be away, dear."

Again, Hitomi almost groaned. She was just too sure that Millerna spilled much more than what should be spilled. And knowing the blonde, she must have injected some of her opinions on the matter.

"Why have you not gone home in a long time?"

The glint in Madam Fleur's eyes showed she knew the reason, but Hitomi, in her desperate attempt to prevent one more person from meddling in her life, saw it fit to answer evasively. "Oh my business career is taking up too much of my time."

"Yes, of course. And there's also the matter concerning your love life."

Hitomi's smile faltered at her mentor's double-edged tone that was hinting something regarding a past in Japan. Really, Millerna was going to get it. "So, will we need to stay in the hotel hosting the convention?"

A wider smile that said you're-changing-the-topic was given to her before the older woman answered. "You could stay in your house if you like. But I should stay in the hotel."

"Why? You could stay with me." This time, she offered a real smile, glad that they were off the thin ice she wanted to avoid even for now.

Madam Fleur exhaled loudly. "It wouldn't do to inconvenience you when it would be obvious that there would be lots of catching up to do."

She did not bother to keep her smile up. It was apparent by now that her companion would not let the topic drop. What with all her dual meanings and hinting tones of voice. "I would handle the catching up so it wouldn't be an inconvenience for you to stay with me and my family."

"Reservations had been made in the hotel, my dear."

"Oh. So it means I have to be there-"

"Nonsense. I didn't ask for a room for you there." At Hitomi's confused expression, she continued. "I had the strongest feeling that you would rather stay with your family. Don't worry, my dear. I'm sure we'd both manage our situation quite well. Now, I am certain you would rather we stay quiet for the remaining minutes before landing." With a wink at the younger woman, Madam Fleur returned to her reading.

---IA4---

'This is it,' she thought as they approached a waiting BMW that was most likely the hotel's grand welcome service.

"My dear," Madam Fleur's vibrant voice addressed her with a soft prodding that she stopped walking. "Would you like us to give you a ride home first or would you like to see the hotel?"

Hitomi smiled slightly. She missed her family, but she was worried about Hiko and his girlfriend... "I think I'll go see the hotel first. Then I'd get a taxi once I am familiar with where to see and meet you."

The older woman smiled kindly, her grey eyes shining with a hint of knowing that Hitomi had to wonder if Millerna knew so much more things than she let on she knew. "That would be very practical."

And they proceeded to the car, their luggage carried by the driver.

For the first minutes, the ride had been relatively quiet, Madam Fleur seemingly having had visited Tokyo before. Hitomi was rather thankful for it as she was busy looking at the vaguely familiar places they passed as they made their way towards Shibuya, the busy part of Tokyo that had most of the hotels.

There was a knot in her stomach, a sense of twisted nostalgia perhaps, that came with a vengeance as a blood red car stopped beside them because of the red light. The occupants, teenagers by their looks, were arguing and Hitomi could not help but smile slightly at the sight and sound as she watched with a very good guess in her mind. A few moments and the guy sitting beside the female behind the steering wheel exhaled in irritation, slumping on his seat with a deep frown. The girl beside him just huffed and stared at him, her eyes straying for a second that she met Hitomi's eyes by accident. The guy soon noticed that his companion was looking at something and he followed her gaze, soon enough nodding apologetically at Hitomi.

"She's the worst driver in the world," he said, grinning slightly before receiving an obviously loud slap on his arm. "Hey!"

At that moment, the red light shifted to green, and Hitomi lost sight of the occupants as the BMW turned to another direction. But she could guess what would have come up next and with that, her stomach did another twist that she almost grimaced. Perhaps coming to Japan was certainly a bad idea.

"They remind you of some people perhaps?"

Hitomi turned to her side and offered a weak smile. Of course they reminded her of some people, some people with a honey-brown-haired girl being taught how to drive by one frustrated silver-haired boy. "A little."

The widowed woman smiled and nodded. "I bet they are in love with each other."

Her stomach did another lurch but she ignored the discomfort. "How so? They **were** arguing, weren't they?" When the words left her mouth, she suddenly felt like groaning in frustration. She almost sounded like an unsure toddler, who'd seen her classmates punch each other but was too naïve to realize they were fighting.

"Yes, they were. But then, didn't you notice that despite their arguments, they still put up with each other? The boy could've just walked out on the girl, or maybe the other way around."

"But," Hitomi began, her stubborn streak surfacing clearly. "One of them owns the car. Surely no one would want to leave the car to the other. Besides, the one who walks out will appear like a coward."

A slightly triumphant glint shone amidst the grey depths of the older woman. "Precisely."

Hitomi frowned and again felt like an unsure toddler. "So how does that make them in love?"

"Oh dear Hitomi, it takes a lot of courage to stay while falling in love," Madam Fleur answered, her eyes fixing on Hitomi's, "and an even greater courage to stay when you're already in love. The boy stayed because he was fond enough to tolerate the girl with him."

"But what if they were ordered to spend time together?" She argued, still stubbornly trying to win the argument and ignore the unease at the pit of her stomach.

"No one is around to say they are following what they were ordered to do."

Her green eyes refused to look away from the searching grey eyes. "What if they just don't want to tell a lie to the ones who ordered them?"

There was a silence that followed and Hitomi would've basked in triumph had she not been familiar of her mentor's ability to always win despite the odds of the arguments against her.

"Tell me, Hitomi dear," the older woman began in a deceptively off-hand tone. "If you truly hate someone with all your heart, and someone superior than you, let's say me, tells you to spend the entire semester with that hated someone, would you do it?"

"Well if there were credits to be earned or if there were deductions threatening me, I would."

"But what if you truly hate that person with everything in you?"

"I'd," she bit her lower lip in hesitation, something she had not gotten over since after she came to live in Japan so long ago. "I'd drop the subject."

"Or?"

She bit harder. "I'd compromise."

A nod of acknowledgement and, "You could tell if they were compromising, couldn't you?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose so."

Again, the triumphant glint was swirling in grey eyes. "Do you think they were compromising?"

She didn't want to lose. "Yes."

"Alright, I'll give you that point. Let's say theoretically they were compromising," Madam Fleur said through a smile that made Hitomi sit on with unease. "Do you think they'd just argue lightly, without shouts and sneers or some other rude things youngsters do, if they were only and wholly compromising? Don't you think there must be, let's say, a light or even unofficial friendship between them, for the two of them to be more tolerant than they should be?"

The knot in Hitomi's stomach increased steadily and she did not know how to win and at the same time ignore her unease. "Well... what if they're good in acting?" She almost rolled her eyes at her childish comeback, but nevertheless kept her eyes locked unto her mentor's.

The smile that was positively self-satisfied alerted Hitomi that she had just lost her argument. "Would you act if you're in the same car, alone I should point out, with your most hated person?"

She bit her lower lip and looked away, admitting defeat. "No."

"So there we have it," the older woman said in triumph as she took notice of Hitomi's upset disposition over such argument. She knew in her heart that she touched a sensitive nerve in the younger woman and in her fondness for the green-eyed chef, placed a slightly wrinkled hand on the younger one's own hands. "If truth be told, my dear, the cliché of love and hate having but a hair's breadth of difference is true."

"It's not." Hitomi looked at the hand covering her clasped ones on her lap. "They're two different emotions."

"Yet they belong to one and the same category - an emotion that many can feel."

"Despair is an emotion, why don't they say there's a hair-like border between it and love?"

Madam Fleur did not answer, for the car stopped just seconds earlier and the door was already opened. She knew that Millerna was right; Hitomi ran away for far too long that many things that mattered to her before had gotten too big for her to grasp.

---IA4---

"I should get going," Hitomi murmured, walking towards the door. "I'd come tonight if you'd like that."

Madam Fleur shook her head, following her former student's direction. "No need. Perhaps you can come tomorrow lunch and we'd begin to socialize with the other people invited for the convention. I'm sure you are tired after the very long flight, and of course, the reunion will add to your strain tonight."

Hitomi smiled gratefully. "I'll come by tomorrow at lunch then." She reached out to hug her mentor, before opening the door and stepping out of the suite.

"Hitomi."

"Yeah?" She stopped, looking at the woman she had looked up to since her college years.

"Sleep well."

---IA4---

With apprehension, she paid for the fare and stepped out of the taxi with her medium-sized suitcase, looking at the massive gate in front of her. There were so many things that made the butterflies in her stomach flutter excitedly and even multiply.

As she stood at the spot, a wave of nostalgia crashed on her and she could picture herself, standing at that exact spot, looking at a boy with strangely silver hair as he remained perched on his motorcycle, the awkwardness surrounding them mounting. She smiled slightly, stepping closer to the side of the gate and pushing the button for a bell inside to ring and alert of someone outside. While she waited, she looked at the area near the gate and her smile faltered. She could almost feel the warmth of someone hugging her back while she was in her sleeping attire, of someone hugging her comfortingly when she was heart-broken.

"_Can I... can I just have a hug?"..._

"_Of course I came. I was the one who told you to wait."..._

"Yes, Miss?"

She tore her eyes away from the spot that held her attention a while back, turning to the now slightly opened smaller door of the gate. A woman, in a uniform of white and black looked at her curiously.

"I..." She cleared her throat. "Are the owner of the house inside?"

The woman looked unsure of giving her any information.

"Chee? Open the gate up, would you? I'm going to drive out." A male voice called from somewhere inside the vicinity of the house. "Who's there anyway?"

"Uh, sir, there's a woman."

Hitomi felt a little out-of-place that instant. She knew the woman was only trying to be private about her family since they were of the socially elite society and since she was some unknown person asking for some information. But there was a part of her that made her feel she did not belong there anymore, not after ten years of being gone and never even thinking of coming for a visit.

The woman moved aside by a foot or so as the man strode towards them and peered at the opening. There was a silence then, with heavy tension as the man looked at her closely.

"Tomi?" He said at last, his voice cracking slightly with anticipation.

She smiled hesitantly, looking at the tall man in front of her; green eyes, much like her own, shining brightly at her. "Hey."

In a fraction of a second, the man pulled her inside the house's territory, trapping her in a tight hug, her luggage coming along with her. "Tomi! You're back!"

Her smile widened and she tried to pry his arms away so she could hug him back, but his strength was way more overpowering that she settled for resting her forehead on his broad shoulder. "Hiko."

"Hiko?"

He hugged her tighter as another female voice came from somewhere behind him. "Tomi's back," he said happily. "Tomi's back."

"And I won't be here for long if you keep this up," Hitomi muttered playfully.

Hiko grinned at her and then released her. "Got too excited I forgot you could still break." He gave her a quick once-over and then tugged at her luggage. "Let me have that. Really, Tomi, you'd never really fatten up, would you?"

She laughed and gave his arm a good slap before slowly leaning to her side and looking at the female standing a few meters away from them. She tried to keep her smile intact as she looked upon the very beautiful face of the red-haired woman. "Hey."

The woman smiled slightly, almost shyly and walked towards them. "Hello, Hitomi."

Hiko looked at the other woman standing by the now opened door on one side the gate. "It's alright. I'm not going out. My sister just came back."

The woman clad in uniform blanched and looked apologetically at Hitomi. "I'm sorry, Miss Kanzaki, I didn't know."

Hitomi waved a dismissive hand and kept up her smile. "That's alright. I didn't talk."

"What happened to Miss Popularity?" Hiko asked teasingly, slinging his arm around her shoulder. "You did become Student Council President and officially Most Popular Girl when you came back."

"That was right after I got knocked off from the top of the food chain," she quipped back, surprised and glad that there was no bitterness in her voice at all.

"Let's go in. Dad and Mom will blow their heads off seeing you," Hiko informed with a boyish grin as he half-dragged, half-carried his sister towards the house, leaving the red-haired woman and the woman clad in uniform.

"Don't worry," the beautiful woman said after the two had entered. "Hitomi doesn't keep grudges." She gave a sigh. "Tell Hiko I'm leaving early." With that, she walked towards the car near the gate, feeling still remorseful about something that involved Hitomi ten years ago.

---IA4---

He always thought before that by the time they'd be more than twenty-five, hugging would be virtually counted out of reunions, but as he watched from a short distance as his sister was being smothered by their parents in numerous, tight hugs, he could not help but shake his head. Perhaps it was because he had been proven wrong yet again when it came to Hitomi, or perhaps it was because it was strange seeing Hitomi after ten long years.

It was actually strange when he thought about it. Ten years and it seemed as if nothing had ever changed. Hitomi, although she was slightly altered in physical appearance, still was and always will be his sister. He knew very well that under her now composed person, there will always be inside her the fiery and yet strangely scared girl.

Of the years that passed, he hardly ever told her of what had happened to everyone in Japan. He did tell her stories, but mostly it was related to their family alone. She never did ask him what became of the others and although he could sense that she will always inwardly ask herself, he refused to volunteer information until she would ask for it. Perhaps he was only challenging her before; challenging her to stop pretending and actually step forward and look over the cliff. But as years went by, he simply lost his challenging mood to the ever-present protectiveness he had for her. It was obvious to him; Hitomi was scared to know, and he, being the kind of brother that he was, refused to be the one to force her on things she was not ready for.

And so years went on and still Hitomi never once asked him even in an off-mannered way. Whatever it was that she wished to run away from, he was sure it was something he did not want to press on her. For his sister to not come back for ten years was something and some times, he wondered what had her running off for so long. Maybe he guessed it right in the many conclusions he gave before or maybe not. But there was one thing he truly hoped for; that Hitomi would not regret anything she did.

"How long will you be here?"

Hiko looked with interest as his sister straightened her slightly rumpled clothing before looking back at their father. He was quite amused that Hitomi still was bothered by anything messy. Couldn't she lighten up a bit, even after all these years?

"Just two weeks, Dad."

Their parents look visibly disappointed. The idea of so many years of being away and only coming back for two weeks is not very welcome it seemed.

"But I could come visit again soon after I check up on my friends," she said quickly. "It would be pretty unfair on them if I leave them to deal with my responsibilities longer than the supposed time."

Their mother nodded and smiled. "Of course. You will be staying here for two weeks, right?"

At the question, Hitomi looked slightly apologetic. "Well actually, I have to attend a convention until the end of my visit. But I will be going home here..."

"You're going to **that **convention?" Their father asked with a proud hint to his voice. "I've heard that the best in culinary arts are going to be attending."

Hitomi smiled almost shyly, so unlike the self-assured Hitomi of long ago. "Dad, my mentor invited me along. It's not really because I'm great in what I do. I mean," she widened her eyes in self-mockery. "I couldn't even cook for my life before and all. Those people there knew how everything since they were barely teenagers."

"Of course," their father acquiesced. "But the fact that you're successful today must mean you're at least near their capabilities. That makes it all the more better. If you didn't even know whatever it is that should be known before that they knew since they were still young and still end up near them, it means you are truly a remarkable learner."

"Oh Dad!" Hitomi exclaimed with embarrassment, flushing slightly.

Their parents laughed and Hiko watched with more interest as his sister continued to show little things about her that certainly did change. She wasn't the Hitomi he thought he remembered. Perhaps things did change when she came back to America.

---IA4---

A vaguely familiar beeping, so loud and so clear, woke her up a few minutes before. But she was determined to snag a few more minutes of sleep that she ignored whatever contraption she had activated the night before. Unfortunately, the supposed few more minutes of sleep only served to irritate her that she finally reached out a hand and felt for the bedside table blindly. She cringed inwardly at all the muffled sound of things falling on a carpeted floor that followed next. Still, after all the effort she did were not to yield any result, the blasted sound continued on.

Giving up with irritation oozing from every pore in her body, she turned on her side and opened her eyes, searching for the alarm clock Hiko leant her last night.

'Honestly,' she thought with not so little irk. 'How can Hiko stand this **thing**?!"

The alarm clock was a bit out of her reach and finally fully awake, she sat up and moved to the side of the bed, slamming her palm none too gently on the protruding part of the alarm clock. Finally, the sound stopped. But now she was sure that her irritation awakened her mind completely and that few more minutes of sleep she wanted were long gone by now.

She frowned. For the last years of her life, she never woke up this irritated.

'Great,' she thought sarcastically. 'Not even twenty-four hours here and I already feel like whining and ripping something apart. Great. Just mature.'

Getting out of bed, she walked towards the door and headed for the dinning room. When she arrived, the only occupant was Hiko, who didn't even notice her as he was busy reading the newspaper opened so widely in front of him. That suited her just fine. With her mood, she didn't particularly feel too adept in socializing.

However, the moment she sat down, Hiko folded his paper and looked at her from across the table. "The alarm clock," he stated matter-of-factly.

She gave an irate nod that soon gave way to wide grinning. Goodness! She felt like she was a teenager once more, something she never felt since so long ago. "How can you stand that **thing**?"

He grinned; much like the teenage Hiko would've done before. "And you ask me before why I was willing to lend it to you?"

She snorted in an effort to keep her laughter in check. "So how'd you put up with it?"

"Simple," he answered, reaching for his cup of coffee and sipping from it. "I don't. I just stash it up in one desk drawer. But when you said you needed an effective wake-up call, I figured it was time to use that thing. I think I was thinking 'in case of desperate times, pull out the drawer and resort to desperate means'."

At this she laughed. "You must think I'm **that **desperate."

His grin widened. "I'm guessing you'll want me to get it as far away from you as possible." He took another sip, watching his sister from the rim of his cup for a moment before putting the cup down on the table. "Dad and Mom couldn't wait. You know how things are when one is running a big company."

"I know. I'm just juggling less than ten restaurants and I could hardly keep up. I can just imagine it for them." Suddenly, she gave him a questioning look. "Aren't you supposed to be there, too?"

"Dad figured you'd need someone to talk to before you go to the hotel."

She nodded, somewhat feeling relieved that Hiko did stay to ease her mood. Obviously, he had done this before. She couldn't even remember when she overly lost the irritation she felt that morning.

"You said something about a lunch date with your mentor." He looked at his wrist watch. "It's almost ten-thirty. "You really should get ready. The traffic would be a killer and I don't even want to think about braving it."

"You'd be giving me a ride then?"

He gave a nod and when she stood up, asked. "You're not having breakfast?"

"This isn't breakfast, Hiko. This is brunch. Ten-thirty? Breakfast? You sure have a screwed sense of time."

When she left, Hiko smiled. "And I'm guessing she starts working at six am."

---IA4---

"Turn here," Hitomi said, eyeing the street as if trying to make sure she was giving the right directions. "Yeah, here."

Hiko grinned. "You know, Tomi, it sure took you a quick time to get ready. I'm guessing you finally learned that making people wait is utterly despicable."

"Says the guy who needs an hour to prepare."

He laughed. "Just so you'd know, we both learned that 'time is of the essence'."

"Warcraft 3," she murmured, remembering the PC strategic game. "The archers and rangers say that, right?"

"Just the archers, I think."

She sighed. Somehow, even when she was technically grown up, she felt the longing of being young again. There were too much things she had to give up on when she came back to America; things that gave her the satisfaction of doing and things that gave her the bittersweet feeling of walking down memory lane.

"There." She said suddenly, pointing to a big hotel.

Hiko gave her a look. "You're not kidding, are you?"

She frowned. "Stop being childish, Hiko. Why would I kid around?" She watched closely as different emotions battled on Hiko's face before he managed to keep them all in control in a record time of barely a few seconds.

He quietly drove near the hotel and parked the car. He looked at her and gave her a smile she could not quite read through. "So, you want me to escort you there?"

She smiled. "Of course. You'd get to meet Madam Fleur after all the years I spent telling you how great she is."

He nodded and vacated the car, waiting for Hitomi before locking it up. He then proceeded to walk with his sister into the hotel. There was a knot in his stomach that he didn't know how to react to. The convention was a big time one and surely it would involve certain people from upperclass that had something to do with culinary arts and also hotel and restaurant management.

"Except your mentor, are you familiar with anyone here?" He asked when they entered one elevator that luckily had only three other occupants inside.

"Actually, no," she replied with a slight shrug. "Why did you ask? Nervous about meeting my mentor? Don't worry, Hiko, she's really nice."

"If you say so." He hesitated for a moment. "Do you think she's acquainted with the one who owns this hotel?"

Hitomi gave another slight shrug. "I'm not sure. But it might be a possibility. The hotel sent a BMW to pick us up and they did give her a good suite. I'm not sure about the other guests but I think they gave her a very good treatment." She gave a slight thought but smiled nevertheless. "She is very good and have a good reputation in the culinary world so I think it's just a tribute of respect of some sort."

Hiko frowned slightly, regarding his sister as she continued looking at the metal sliding door without a care. Something was tugging at him, something that told him he was overlooking something. "Are you really close with your mentor?"

Green eyes, so much like his own, looked back at him with curiosity. "Of course. Why'd you ask?"

"You tell me too much about her. I thought that maybe you just look up at her way too much." He leaned on the wall, ignoring the close look he was obviously receiving from the other female occupants of the elevator apart from his sister. He can immediately tell they were barely out of their teens and he almost gave a sigh. Why was it females keep eyeing him most of the time like he was on display? "How were things with you and her back in college?"

"How should I put it?" Hitomi asked a rhetorical question, leaning on the opposite side of the wall her brother was propped up against and noticing for the first time and with great amusement as the teenagers eyed her brother adoringly. "She was like a parent and a friend to me. She didn't only teach me about culinary arts, she taught me other things about life like Mom and Dad used to do before we moved here in Japan."

"So she liked you enough to invite you to her house?"

She smiled fondly. "I often had dinner in her house. She gets lonely in such a big place off New York."

"So you drive a long way to eat dinner with her?"

"Actually, her driver fetches me and brings me back when she couldn't persuade me to an overnight stay."

He looked at her closely. "And her comment on your love life?"

At this, she frowned, eyeing her brother almost suspiciously. "And where is this conversation heading?"

Hiko was spared from answering as a beep was heard and soon, the metal doors slid open. He swiftly walked out of the elevator, waiting for his sister outside while he tried to ignore the giggling teenagers still looking at him. When Hitomi moved out and the doors slid close, they walked down the hallway.

"I'm just curious," he said at last.

Hitomi, although slightly suspicious about his attitude, gave a smile and allowed the topic to drop. Now that she thought about it, there were times before were she told Madam Fleur of stories about her friends in Japan. But it was a bit peculiar on closer thought how each time she talked about a certain red-eyed troublemaker, her mentor seemed to brighten up. She groaned. So Millerna was not the only one feeding Madam Fleur with her delusions about probable lost chances in love. She, Hitomi Kanzaki, had also been incriminating herself.

"Hitomi, there you are dear," an endearing voice of some woman called out from somewhere a few meters in front of them.

She shook out of her thoughts and looked at the approaching figure of her favorite mentor in college.

"This must be your brother," the older woman said as she stopped in front of the two green-eyed young people.

"Madam Fleur, I would like you to meet Hiko."

Hiko stepped forward and took Madam Fleur's hand, kissing it like the perfect gentleman, making the older woman smile in obvious delight of his behavior. Hitomi merely raised one amused brow and wondered how it was that Hiko managed to be such a smooth man capable of pleasing any of the female population. She never did think about it before but when they were teenagers, Hiko did have three serious relationships with girls older than him, all of whom were within the circle of the girls desired by many boys. A few minutes ago, three teenagers were eyeing her brother, and now, her mentor, who was not easily pleased, was chatting amicably with her brother in the middle of a big hotel's hallway.

"Join us for lunch," Madam Fleur invited warmly before turning to Hitomi. "Your brother is such a charmer, my dear. I'm surprised you didn't tell me about that fact."

"Madam, you praise me much," Hiko said.

Madam Fleur's fondness seemed to increase and it made Hitomi even more amused. Was it just her, or was Madam Fleur treating her brother like she knew of him from someone? Her friends might have made up with Hiko, but she seriously doubted that any of them would've told Madam Fleur something about him. When she thought about that part, a knot began forming in her stomach. Something was tugging at her, something that told her she was overlooking something.

Hiko caught her eye and for some reason, she knew he was feeling exactly what she felt.


	3. Haunt Me Still

**Author's Note: **Nope I'm not writing in my college. I don't want to, I guess because I can be erratic about writing and obviously because I'm just getting lucky in writing – **no talent there at all. But thanks for the compliments**. Heh. Glad there's been positive feedback about Hiko and Madam Fleur and even on Hitomi being a chef. Lol. Now you know who Madam Fleur is. Oh yes, about if this is going to be **flashbacks of the other IAs, some parts** I guess. Just like last chapter with the gate scene it came from the prom night and the other from when Allen and Hitomi broke up. Another thing, Hitomi **coming back wasn't really planned**. Her college instructor (Madam Fleur) just thought that Hitomi wouldn't come to the convention if she was told that it would be in Japan and therefore didn't tell until the last minute. But **no conspiracy there**, really. And the **owner of the hotel?** Lol. Next chapter maybe? This is getting too long… I'm off to e-mail people while I have the time and yeah, to anyone who wants to talk to me, **Gaean**** Illusion **is my home, lol. Sort of. **Thanks for those who went there and of course, thanks for liking the story and sticking with it. Love the feedbacks and support and most of all, the compliments. **Wow! Is that my ego? Oh, **if I don't write often, sorry, got a life here**. hehehe

**Forgot this in the last chapter but I'll do this now…**

**(1**) From Intruder Alert: Take Two Chapter 6 (the bar scene with Clover)

**Chapter Dedication: **Diesty-chan, Catelina, Dark-Dreams-69, Kat-Tastrophe, Wink57CS, Faraday, blue ice2, SabrinaYutsuki, Kya77, Magicman/Smokegirl, stephanie nancy, dreamingofflyingaway, bebopin-dreamer, prima, Lady Snow Blood, Kagome-Chi, mel88, fallen-dark-angel, Rei Tamashi, Silentnight, steves-girl, rabsi-babsy, Dilanda Albata, Joshua Glass, Karone Richardson, duh-hikki-zealot, Anonym, bittersweet partings, Mordicai, One-Mean-Rabbit, Kagome (**_are you Kagome-Chi?_**), Blue Demon, c'fay

**Note: **

"Intruder Alert" - dialogue

'Intruder Alert' - thoughts

_Intruder Alert _- flashback

**Summary:** Dilandau Albatou and Hitomi Kanzaki both have a new life. After life had taken some crazy roller coaster turns back in high school, another set of erratic twists are on the way. Because when everything seems alright, they are again thrown back for another ride. Although this time, the dice of chances are in their hands. To throw the dice and start the game once again would be up to them.

**Standard Disclaimers Apply**

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* * *

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**Intruder Alert 4: Chances**

**By: Frostmourne**

**Chapter Three: Haunt Me Still**

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"Oh you're also in business management?"

Hiko smiled and chewed on his grandly presented steak. A few moments of emptying his mouth of his food and his smile broadened. "Yes."

Madam Fleur laughed in her elegant way, her voice tinkling like a hypnotic chime. "Go on."

"Well, it seems the need for control runs in the family," Hiko continued amicably. "Dad even had me taking up corporate law. I never thought much of it but he had my life well planned out." He shook his head and looked positively amused. "The only one he couldn't map out is Hitomi."

Hitomi, thoughtful since the introduction of Hiko to Madam Fleur, gave a noncommittal shrug and sliced through her steak. She was comfortable just listening to the conversation of her two companions. It was giving her more time to think and analyze every single detail. For instance, she could delve for plausible reasons as to why Hiko seemed to be utterly charming that many females in the hotel's dining area was eyeing him covert interest. Another thing, she could wonder more why her mentor was quite interested in Hiko, as if he reminded her of someone.

"Hitomi can be unpredictable," Madam Fleur said with fondness and a strange twinkle in her eyes; another thing that Hitomi mentally added to the long and still growing list of what to ponder on. "That reminds me, Hiko. Would your schedule be unpredictable enough for you to be able to join us for tonight's dinner party?"

Hiko's green eyes swept across the surrounding tables nearby, flickering with slight impatience as he noticed the flirtatious and lusty looks he was receiving. "There are some factors," he began.

"Bring an escort. Surely you have a charming girlfriend to cling to you and help you escape the inevitable smothering of women."

Hitomi almost raised her brow quizzically and fixed her brother a curious look. He seemed to have felt her eyes for he turned to her and looked completely uncomfortable.

"I," he began hesitantly, watching his sister's expression closely while suppressing the strong urge to squirm.

"If Clover isn't busy, Hiko will be here," the honey-brown-haired Hitomi interrupted.

Hiko gave a small smile, his eyes looking guiltily down at his forgotten food.

Madam Fleur noticed the change in atmosphere and again, the strange twinkle appeared in her grey eyes. "Hitomi, dear, your brother would look splendid in a black tuxedo."

Hitomi gave a nod and observed her brother's subdued demeanor.

**-IA4-**

"My sweet child," Madam Fleur greeted, regally turning her face to receive a peck on both her cheeks.

A woman, tall and stunning, smiled gaily. "It's so nice to see you here!" Her blue eyes shone with excitement.

The older woman nodded and turned to the other young woman with a perfectly and marvelously tanned complexion. "I can tell you are faring rather well in the big world." She gestured to the people eating around them. "People of society have taken quite a liking to your hotel. And I must say, it is quite superbly run."

"I have some help," the golden-skinned woman replied, gesturing to the blue-eyed, pale-skinned woman with them. A staff, dressed impeccably, approached the table and gave a slight bow, passing a note that was quickly read through. "My apologies, Madam. I am needed for something."

"Go right ahead."

As soon as the other woman left, the blue-eyed one looked about anxiously before asking. "So, where is this student you always talk about? I'm so excited to see her! It's almost as if I already know her from all your stories."

"You have just missed her and her brother. But do not fret. They will be in tonight's party. I'm sure you'll all get along wonderfully. That reminds me of another thing." Madam Fleur smiled fondly. "Is your brother going to be present tonight?"

"That depends actually. He's been quite busy and you know how he could be when he's interrupted," she replied, shaking her head slightly, her pale blonde hair swishing about. "I still think nothing worked out. Even with how things are, he's still… detached at times. It worries me."

"Oh hush," the older woman said, her regal bearing surfacing as they conversed. "He will be alright, I assure you. He merely needs to iron a few creases that he refuses to fix."

"That's just it. He refuses to fix things and I can tell perfectly that it's coming after him." She sighed with irritation. "He's too stubborn for his own good. I have half the mind to slap his head upside down." Suddenly, she seemed perky. "Perhaps you can talk sense into him."

"And what makes you think that your incorrigible brother would listen to me?"

**-IA4-**

"I have an awful headache," Hitomi murmured to herself as she sieved through the long gowns in the closet of the guest room she used. "And I need to go to some party and socialize. Ugh! It's almost as if Yukari is here."

She pulled out a simple black gown and noticing with distaste that it was backless. She sighed and placed it back to where it belonged in the closet, opting to go to her old room instead and look at what was there. As she placed her hand on the knob, she looked around the guest room and felt hesitant.

When she arrived, she had chosen to stay out of her old room for one reason – to avoid memories. She didn't really understand why she was very opposed to going down memory lane. Perhaps it was because she'd rather forget the painful things that happened to her, or perhaps she wanted to forget the beautiful things that reminded her of what she lost and could never reclaim back.

Instantly, she withdrew her hand from the doorknob and looked at it blankly, her mind already going though both painful and sweet memories that she had so long ago. She wanted to pull back, so desperately needed time to prepare herself for reflection, but she couldn't. Being in this house, so near her room, brought so many things to her. It was as if those memories she had repressed to be able to move on were coming back with a strong retaliation.

The door opened slightly and soon, her brother's head peeked in. "Did I disturb you?"

She blinked profusely, clearing her eyes from the moisture that seemed so abundant all of a sudden. "No," she said, her voice slightly choked.

Hiko frowned and opened the door further, slipping into the space and holding his older sister's shoulders. "If you aren't well, maybe you could skip the party."

She sighed. "We promised we'll be there. I know you didn't want to come and it isn't right if I just send you alone."

"It's alright," he said. "Dad would have my head if I pulled you along when you're not feeling too good."

"But you hate socializing; you always have since we were barely a decade old."

He withdrew his hands and gave a mock martyr look. "The things I do for my sister."

Unnoticed, her lips quirked upwards and she hit Hiko's arm playfully. "We should talk."

He looked at her strangely and gave a grin. "We're talking."

She shook her head and walked back towards her bed, sitting on it and looking at Hiko. "No seriously, let's talk."

"And why do I get the feeling that I might possibly regret this?" He asked, but nevertheless, walking towards the bed and sitting beside his sister. She looked at him silently and he raised a brow, giving a mock look of impatience. "Well, speak up already. It's not good to muddle up my schedule you know."

Hitomi sighed and gave a tentative smile. "How's the thing with Clover?"

He gave an uncomfortable frown. "I knew I'd regret this. Goodness you're brutally straight. Couldn't you have danced around the topic first?"

"You're stalling, Hiko. And I thought you said it's not good to muddle up your schedule."

Raking his long fingers through his almost sandy-colored hair, he allowed his upper body to fall on the soft mattress. He appeared to be thinking intently and Hitomi waited silently for the next minutes, watching her brother's green eyes burn holes through the ceiling.

"I don't know," he said at last.

She raised a brow. "I think she likes you. I even think she's in love with you."

"She says so."

"Do you feel it?"

He shrugged, eyes glazing slightly. "She laughs at my jokes, even when I myself know I can be dorky at some punch lines. She hugs and kisses me even when I don't do that to her. She comforts me when I mess up on something and even when I often push her away. She finds way to come and see me, to talk to me and make sure I'm alright. Clover's wonderful, acts like I'm the best guy there could be."

Hitomi smiled slightly. "And how do you feel about it?" Hesitantly, she added – "Why are you so cold to her?" – not realizing that the beginning knots on her stomach was from self-reproach.

Hiko gave a laugh laced with seeping pain and guilt. "I don't really know."

And then everything was silent. Maybe because she didn't know what to say and maybe because Hiko obviously didn't want to talk about it anymore. But whatever the reason was, the silence continued to grow until there came a knocking on the door.

"Hitomi? Is your brother there? Clover is on the line," their mother's voice announced behind the door of the guest room.

"Go," Hitomi urged in a slightly high pitched voice. "It's time we get ready anyway."

He nodded and got off the bed, casting her one strained smile before leaving. After he did so, Hitomi was left alone to deal with the unease at the pit of her stomach. She knew how perceptive she was when it came to other people and at that moment, she'd bet everything she had on the nagging feeling that Hiko knew exactly why he treated Clover the way he did. And it made her feel like a real-life villain, so much like the version of her who had not yet known how it was to be treated like dirt.

**-IA4-**

The party, swinging in its full glory as it was, was grating on the nerves of her brain. Her migraine seemingly went on with the party, also in its full blast agony-inflicting spree. What she would give at that moment for just an opportunity to leave.

Thankfully, as if some unnamed power heard her, Madam Fleur approached her on her inconspicuous seat at one end of the large ballroom reserved for the party.

"Hitomi, you look tired," the older woman noted immediately. "You need a bit of fresh air."

Hitomi nodded before even registering that she had just been given a temporary pass from the party. But when her migraine-bothered mind finally grasped the meaning, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed about appearing so eager to leave the party. "No, not really," she quickly amended.

But her mentor would have none of it and urging her to stand up, pressed a key in her palm. "I am dreadfully apologetic that my niece and her friend are late for the introduction I wanted to transpire. Perhaps you should just drive around the block for a while and hopefully be replenished by the time you come back. I'm sure by then, they would be here." Motioning to the key, she added. "The car is just outside; it's my niece's extra car here in the hotel."

Stubbornly embarrassed, Hitomi opened her mouth to protest but had ended up shutting it without saying a word after Madam Fleur gave her a look that announced there was no room for argument. That was why, a few minutes later, she found herself driving around the block for a few minutes, before her eyes caught the sight of a certain street that vaguely reminded her of a park somewhere in this busy vicinity. Remembering the calm a park could give her – back in America and then in Japan some time then – she drove the car to the area and parked near the low metal fence of the park.

She walked around the place for a while, the light of the lampposts welcome in the night. A smile began to form on her lips and her migraine began to ebb away, especially when she sat down on one of the benches facing a small fountain, no doubt made to have children amused.

The lamp near the bench she sat on was apparently not in its best condition as its glass was dirty enough to dim the light it was supposed to cast. But it didn't matter to her at all. Everything suited her just fine – the silence, the dimness, the solitude. Those things made her mind relax and seem free to make a choice on what to do and so she just sat there, her eyes alternately fixed on the fountain and the stars that dotted the dark sky.

Time seemed useless from where she was sitting on and her mind soon drifted to memories long left locked up but never even once forgotten. She remembered how she and her friends in America would go about in parks, laughing, goofing off, and hanging around simply because they belonged with each other. Good times, she reflected, were things that she missed most. Not that she didn't have a fair share of it these past years but that it was just different having fun while not having to worry about work at the same time.

Her mind continued to delve deeper into things related to parks and just as she was about fading off into another memory of a rainy day in a park with a certain troublemaker, a distinct sound of a familiar ringing tone forcibly dragged her away. At first, she thought that somebody was there with her and she looked around, expecting to see another person on the verge of answering a phone call. When she discovered that she was still alone, she shook her head and reached for the cellular phone beside the car key on her lap. She glanced at the flashing name and almost rolled her eyes.

'It's almost as if I'm the younger one needed to be looked after,' she mused wryly as she answered the call.

"Hitomi, where are you?" Hiko's urgently worried voice immediately bombarded on her. "Madam Fleur told me you went out an hour ago and—"

"I'm in a park, two blocks off there," she replied resignedly and winced visibly when she realized that Hiko was clearly becoming more like her overly protective father.

"Alone? It's already near midnight and there's no telling who would stumble there. What if you get mugged? And don't even say you took up kendo because—"

"I'll be alright. I just need some time." She gave a sigh. "My migraine was driving me crazy."

He immediately quieted down. "Oh."

She laughed slightly, amused. "I'll be alright. Besides, you should keep Clover some company. I'll be back there a bit later."

"Are you sure?"

"I am," she insisted.

He still seemed uncertain and to placate him, she found herself promising that he could come and personally escort her back to the party if he felt that she had disappeared for far too long. Finally he gave in and she again found herself with the factors she needed to drown out reality and cruise back into the previous fond memory she was reliving before her brother called.

**-IA4-**

"There you are."

Madam Fleur turned around in a graceful way and smiled as she came face to face with one of the person she waited for. "At long last," she said in a teasing way as she received a peck on her cheek.

"I'm really sorry. There were just been some problems with you-know-who."

The older woman's grey eyes narrowed slightly. "And your brother?"

"He's somewhere around here. We were making our way towards you when some woman drew him away." She looked embarrassed then. "It's really… rude of him considering that he's…"

"I can tell he's intimately acquainted with this said woman from your reaction," Madam Fleur said with a hint of cold disapproval. "He had better show himself before this event ends. It is already a rather embarrassing circumstance that the two of you had made my introduction delayed."

The younger woman, her pale face now tinged with hot embarrassment, gave a hesitant smile. "So where is this student of yours? It seems like you really like her."

"I do," was the solemn reply. "I find her rather refreshing from all these nonsensical people you and your brother move around with up until now. Your parents are getting the wrong signals as a result and now your brother is running around with some superficial, random woman he used to bed." She gave a stern, silencing look. "On the other hand, it is rather unfortunate for you that my student is now _off _to some place because of this tardiness."

Blue eyes widened with apology. "We missed her? After all these years of hoping to meet her—"

"Hush. I am sure she would be back soon. In the meantime, there's someone you should meet." Leading the younger woman away from the secluded corner of the big room, Madam Fleur sashayed her way through the crowd, her grey eyes fixed on a tall man's back. When they had approached the unsuspecting man, Madam Fleur's voice floated like an instrumental music. "Enjoying the party?"

**-IA4-**

Hiko was pretending to listen to his date's soft voice when another voice drew his attention, making him spin around and lock eyes with his sister's favorite mentor. "Madam," he acknowledge easily, smiling and feeling his date move closer to him as she turned to look at the newcomer.

Madam Fleur gave a smile, fixing her piercing eyes on the red-head beside Hiko. "I hope I am not interrupting something."

His date shook her head. "Not at all."

"Good. I would just like to introduce my niece." At this she glanced at the fair woman beside her, noting that her companion seemed concentrated on trying to identify something. "My dear, this charming young man is-"

Blue eyes shone with relieved recognition. "Hiko?"

Hiko gave an almost sheepish smile at finally noticing the beautiful woman beside Madam Fleur. "Celena," he said in a disbelieving tone. "I almost didn't recognize you." And he took the woman's hand and gave a slight squeeze. "It's been so long."

The redhead beside Hiko gave a hesitant smile but did not move from her position. She now looked uncertain on what to do and she looked at Hiko's hand, entwined with Celena's.

Celena hardly noticed Clover as she withdrew her hand and gave Hiko a hug. "Yeah! Where did you disappear to?" Stepping away then, she met Madam Fleur's pleased face. "I should have gone here earlier!" And she looked at Hiko again, beaming. "You are so gorgeous!"

Hiko gave a boyish grin this time and looped an arm around Clover's waist, pulling her near. "Didn't you notice before?" He looked at Madam Fleur and gave a look of being offended. "Madam, your niece is a friend of many years ago and she only managed to see the truth just now."

The oldest woman's grey eyes danced with pleasure. "Yes, Celena can be blind to glaring truths." Her eyes then scanned the crowd in one sweeping look.

Clover, not wanting to embarrass Hiko with her silence, said, "She said she'll be here a bit later."

Celena looked at Clover, apparently noticing her for the first time and also noticing that the redhead's eyes were elsewhere, and then returned her gaze at Hiko. "Hitomi? She's here?"

"I take it that you know my student then?"

The pale blonde looked at the elegant woman with a look of realization and suddenly felt as if the world had just fallen on her. "You mean… Hitomi Kanzaki is the mystery girl?"

A raised brow – "Yes, she is. Is there something bothering about it?"

"No," Celena answered almost meekly. "It's just… it's been so long and I miss her." She looked away and suddenly seemed apprehensive.

"He's here," Hiko said suddenly, feeling Clover tense slightly despite her obvious efforts against it.

Madam Fleur observed surreptitiously every little thing that the three younger people exhibited. There was something about the reactions that alerted of something bigger than the picture she saw. Perhaps she would now see the true extent of what Hitomi was suppressing and running away from. A closer look at her niece's face and she just knew her improper nephew was the key to the mystery surrounding the green-eyed woman she truly was fond of.

**-IA4-**

Soft lips, hungry and demanding, smoldered his own lips, causing a twinge of guilt to snake into his chest. He pushed it aside and tried to concentrate on what he was engaged in. The sensation her hands caused on his body was amazing and yet when his back hit the soft mattress of a hotel room, he found himself tearing his lips away. But her lips trailed kisses on his strong jaw and her hands continued its exploration.

_"So, who are you screwing up with?" (1) _

_"Nobody. And you?"_

He flinched and pushed her away, making her look at him in a confused way.

"What's wrong?"

His breathing was heavy but he was not, for a moment, even deceived into thinking that it was because of the earlier encounter he was having but because of a sudden memory trip that made him incredibly uncomfortable with what he had been doing. "We should stop." He pushed her off and sat up, running his long, slender fingers through his ruffled hair.

A warm whisper against his ear caused him to shiver. "Thought of someone?" She licked his ear. "It has never stopped you before."

Suddenly, he realized that he couldn't think straight; he had a massive headache. He stood up and ignored the state of sloppiness his clothing was in and he strode out of the hotel room, intent on heading for his car and getting out and away from there. Briefly, the thought of his aunt looking at him with absolute disapproval crossed his mind and he could almost hear his sister telling him that it was wrong of him to not show himself. But in his state, his impulsive nature took over.

'To hell with everything,' he thought angrily, not sure where this consuming anger came from or who it was directed to.

He strode with purpose, exiting the big hotel and walking with incensed strides to nowhere in particular. The strong need to get away was suffocating him and without really thinking, his feet brought him two blocks away and in front of a park. When he realized where he was, he calmed down gradually and almost sighed with relief. It never did cease to amaze him how a park, even just the sight of it, could make him feel better. He really did owe a certain someone a great deal for giving him something to help him stem his unpredictable temper.

With a considerably better disposition, he entered the park and allowed himself to be lost in the comforting feeling of a certain rainy day in a park with a certain temperamental girl throwing a ruined wig at him. He barely noticed it when his lips, still puffy from the fierce kisses from earlier, quirked upwards in an almost longing smile.

He looked up at the many stars in the night and the new moon and smiled even wider. Lost in the peaceful feeling, he wandered on and not long thereafter, walked towards the sound of flowing water to find himself engulfed in a hauntingly familiar feeling upon seeing someone seated on a bench in a relax and familiar way. His feet stopped and glued him to the ground, and as he looked on with mixed emotions inside at the person there, his eyes became so unreadable and his face so blank.

There had been many times like this.

_She_ was haunting him – always had and perhaps, always will.

**-IA4-**

Smiling slightly, she shook her head and then felt that eyes were fixed on her. She almost shivered with familiarity and suddenly realized that she must have been gone for another more hour and that her brother was now here to retrieve her.

"You didn't have to, Hiko," she said, eyes still fixed on the fountain.

When her brother didn't say anything, she gave one last look at the fountain and then at the night sky before turning her eyes on the direction she felt Hiko was standing at. And suddenly, she found her breath hitching in her throat with her heartbeat increasing rapidly.

She was frozen in place as she looked at the familiar face of the certain someone she had been reminiscing about. Her eyes locked with his unreadable ones and with effort, she forced her voice to work and in a breathy whisper, still clearly heard in that tranquil place, she called out with uncertainty. "Dilandau?"


	4. Long overdue letter

Dear Readers,

First of all, I would like to apologize for the very long hiatus. My health had not been very cooperative these past few years. I know it's not an excuse for leaving without warning but my hospital trips had been notoriously unpredictable and trying to survive had been an upscale battle – it still is.

Many of you have sent me emails, pms, and reviews through the years. They went unanswered for a really, really long time and yet a lot of you had been persistent, continuously sending me messages every now and then – reminding me, asking me, and just _telling_ me about how my stories have made an impact. I've received angry messages, too. Some of you feel robbed of time and again, I apologize. It was not my intention to leave you all hanging. For all of those, I apologize profusely. And I would like to say thank you. Thank you for taking time and telling me how you felt, for loving my stories, for being angry over the sudden stop and the long wait, for hoping, for staying… for _everything._

Like all of you, I wanted to be there until the end of the Intruder Alert series – to _know_ what will become of the characters we've followed through various installments. It's been years, true. I've literally died at one point and came back only to have to go through another ICU experience again. But I've kept on living somehow and perhaps this is one of the reasons, for me to continue, for us to have closure. Yes, I intend to continue if only to give back to those of you who tirelessly waited and supported my stories.

I will be going back to the hospital tomorrow but I have crammed and printed some of the stories so that I can re-acquaint myself with them and hopefully find the rhythm for each of the story. I will start with the Intruder Alert series as it has the most requests (and angry demands). I am not promising a next-week sort of update. I am just answering everyone's question – I will continue.

On a side note, someone had informed me that the Intruder Alert series is being plagiarized. Thank you for the information. I hope someone can help me report the plagiarism. I checked out the link but it seemed the person had changed the story's title. If someone has any idea on it, please report it. Thank you in advance.

Again, I'm terribly sorry for the long delay. I hope you can all find it in your hearts to understand my situation and to forgive me for it. Thank you for the messages and thank you for the unwavering support. Wish me luck. And as always, messages and questions are welcome. I've tried to answer to every single one yesterday but some of the emails are no longer working. And for those who have not gotten a reply, I'm so sorry. It must be the email. Again, messages and questions are always welcome. Keep them coming.

Take care always ~ Frostmourne (031913)


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